March 2013 - November 2015

Determinism and Indeterminism: From Science to Philosophy in Spanish-Speaking Academia

Grant ID

38920

Project Leader(s)

Claudia Vanney,Juan Franck

Grantee(s)

Universidad Austral

Grant Amount

$212,853

Funding area

Philosophy and Theology

Department

Philosophy and Theology

Several scientific discoveries in physics, biology, and the neurosciences across the 20th century have triggered all-time philosophical debates anew. Are our decisions the result of blind neural processes? To what extent is human development determined by the laws of genetics? Is the structure of matter truly governed by indeterministic laws or is that just our lack of knowledge? The goal of this project is to build a regional network of researchers in science and philosophy with an interdisciplinary interest in these issues and to spread informed knowledge among the general public. We specifically face the challenge of attaining an interdisciplinary understanding between Spanish-speaking researchers from different disciplines. The project includes a monthly seminar for researchers and three interdisciplinary research weeks, with activities for researchers as well as for students and the general public. It also foresees a number of publications, both of academic and dissemination nature, and two different competitions for journalistic articles published in Latin America on topics related to the project. We expect that there will be a significant increase in interdisciplinary research among Spanish-speaking scholars, which will be reflected in the development of new interdisciplinary groups and projects in the region.